After breaking 2:30 at the 2018 Tokyo Marathon, I didn’t write a race recap, which is a bit silly since I began blogging to document my process towards that goal. Following Tokyo, I dealt with a number of injuries which kept me from training consistently until the end of 2018. As I was packing and planning for London, I realized that over a year had transpired since my last marathon and while London would be my fifteenth marathon, I had to work to recall the routines that led to my most successful races. I resolved to keep and share some notes this time around.


It was really comforting to have my parents on course and at the finish!

Notes from race morning:

6:30am wake up

6:50am breakfast

Notes made following the race:

7:45am bus

We arrived at the start area about 8:40am [I was concerned that our busses weren’t scheduled to leave our hotels until 8am for a 10:10am start, but this ended up being a non-issue]. So we had 90 minutes until the race started. It was crowded but not too bad. Andrew and I immediately hit the porta-potties then chilled out. The sun was out, but it was neither cold nor hot. There was a bit of wind which blew around the inflatable blimps they used to mark the three separate starts: red, blue, and green. We were in the blue start which is the “TV” start. While laying in a field, we watched the pushrim wheelchair, athletes with disabilities, and elite women’s starts which occurred over the course of the hour prior to our 10:10am scheduled start that we shared with the elite men and UK clubs.

Around 9:40am bathroom lines started to form where we were laying so we went to drop our bags at the gear check. There were no lines! So far the pre-race experience had been pretty painless considering there were over forty thousand registrants. We hit the urinals – US races, take note, there were urinals for people with male and female parts!

We got into the already crowded Zone 1 area and pushed ourselves up to the front three or four rows, far enough to see the UK club athletes paraded out in front of us – all 500 [or more?]. Everyone in Zone 1 pushed forward when they saw the UK club athletes ushered to the start. A few of the elite men were doing strides immediately in front of us and a lot of the Zone 1 guys took out their phones to take photos. Already dealing with the anxiety of having 500+ club runners to weave through, my anxiety grew seeing that I was surrounded with athletes carrying their phones. I fully admit to being pretty snobby, but I assumed that anyone running with their phone was slower than me. I ignored the buzz of anxiety and tried to hold my position as best as possible despite the pushing and the shuffling. I was going to start where I started and worrying wasn’t going to make things better. Ultimately between the three starts, in the first half of the race, I would pass 2300+ athletes and be passed by 1 according to the stats they provide post-race.

Once the race started, they let the club runners clear the start line by about a minute before allowing us to start. Andrew, myself, and about five or six others tore off and quickly caught the slowest of the club runners. At that point, I let Andrew go and did my own “icebreaking” so to speak. Despite my anxiety, it really wasn’t too bad even with the narrowness of some of the roads and speed bumps in the first 5k.

After about 5k, things spread out so that I wasn’t bobbing and weaving but I was still behind athletes of similar ability. Despite I exercising patience, I was still ahead of schedule a bit. I had been averaging pretty close to 5:40/mi which was way ahead of the 2:32 or so I thought I could run with the calf pain I had been experiencing. Thankfully, race day adrenaline and the last minute decision to wear compression socks for the first time in a marathon kept most of the irritation at bay and while I didn’t feel super smooth, the pace felt comfortable so I went with it. It’s hard to explain, but I knew/felt I’d probably slow from this initial clip, but that I wouldn’t blow up badly. As far as pre-race logistics, everything had gone really smoothly. I had gotten two nights of good sleep and my stomach and energy levels were feeling good. I got an additional little boost around 4 or 5 miles in when I saw Dan Glaz who was cheering his fiance on to a 2:51.

I continued to pass runners and found a group sometime around 15k – yeah, it took nine miles to get back the start delta of just over a minute. Also at about this point, the pace became a little more noticeably challenging. I was starting to not feel quite so smooth and effortless, but despite this I kept plugging away at the pace that felt most natural. My standard Salted Caramel Gu that I took at mile 7 wasn’t sitting very well. I did really enjoy the mini-water bottles with nozzles, but found that water stops felt a bit thinly spread since they alternated water and Lucozade each mile. Having never tried Lucozade, I kept away from that product.

By mile 13-14, I had taken my second gel and my stomach didn’t feel any better. It felt like if I burped, I’d puke. Drinking water became more like squirting some into my mouth then the rest on my head, arms, and chest.

I was able to see my parents at mile 12. Mom was waving her lemon colored jacket to get my attention. It felt comforting to have them come out and support me. At mile 14.5, I saw Monica, it was a big pick me up to hear someone cheer for me as “Danny,” my high school nickname. At mile 18 or so, I saw Andrew’s family. They were spread throughout the crowd so it was really fun to get a string of cheers from them. From there compensating for my left calf and race fatigue began to really settle in. I had a solid five miles before I’d see my parents again a mile 23.

I was hurting but my splits remained good – between 5:40-55 as far as I could tell. For being a relatively flat course, there was more fluctuation mile to mile than I thought there would be. Even though I was hurting I wasn’t falling off pace and I was catching a number of the guys who had passed me earlier in the race. There was a guy with a blue singlet who was moving similarly so I tried to keep moving with him as best as possible. I reminded myself I had less than 10 miles to run and how I could hurt for less than an hour. I reminded myself that I had been in similar positions and could keep pushing or at least maintaining pace. There were some nice downhill drops and a few uphill climbs that kept the legs spinning. I found I felt comfortable and strong on uphills which I think is a signature strength of the DWRunning team. Year round, but particularly in the spring leading up to the Boston Marathon, we hit the hilliest runs in the Chicago area and incorporate hill repeats into our long runs.


Around mile 23…

I saw Mom and Dad again just before mile 23 and then was on my own. It was a grind. There were some good downhills bits in miles 23 and 24, but my right quad was feeling pretty shot from compensating and my lower legs felt like stumps I was slamming into the ground. I thought about how our team stays tough when it hurts. Mile 25 was rough. I knew I was slowing, but reminded myself that what feels like a walk at the end of a marathon usually isn’t that bad. I just had to keep working for a little more than twelve minutes and despite slowing, I was still passing people. I split a 6:06 and the discomfort continued to build. Time seemed to pass so slowly. I reminded myself it was an illusion and that I needed to summon as much fight as I could. I reminded myself of the toughness my teammates had demonstrated this season by touching my DW singlet with my hand.


I reminded myself of the toughness my teammates had demonstrated this season by touching my DW singlet with my hand.

I was really hurting – each step felt slow. I was plodding. The last 800 meters dragged on. I didn’t even raise my eye to look at Victoria’s Memorial or Buckingham Palace, I had 200 meters to go and I needed the race to be over. Even with 200 meters to go you don’t immediately see the finish, but as soon as it came into view, I picked it up a tiny bit and got myself over the line. I was pretty spent. I was wheezing. I had run my third fastest marathon ever, 2:32:51, and finished the London Marathon, my final World Marathon Major race! It was over.


Andrew ran a stellar 2:26 PR!

Questions? Comments? Let me know below!